Category: Local News

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says the loss caused by treasury bond scam was much bigger than the amount stated in the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the bond scam.

While India is ‘waiting’ to hear the final word on their bid proposal to uplift the defunct Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), through a joint venture project, the Government says the bidding to run the MRIA on a lease agreement is still open for local and international investors.

General Secretary of the Communist Party D. E. W. Gunasekera yesterday said that the top UNP leadership couldn’t absolve itself of the responsibility for the bond scams.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has directed Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy to discuss with the Monetary Board and take steps to implement the recommendations of the Bond Commission report as soon as it is released.

On the first day of the new year, the Chinese and Sri Lankan flags were hoisted to the same height over the Hambantota port in the Indian Ocean nation.

The Foreign Minister of Japan Tharo Kono said that the Government of Japan is ready to provide its fullest support for the development and reconciliation process of Sri Lanka.

UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake, against whom the Bond Commission presses bribery charges, said he was at a loss to understand how he turned up as a suspect since the Central Bank and the State Banks did not remain under his purview.

The manner in which the Bond issue was investigated and the commitment to identify those responsible demonstrated the democratic and law abiding nature of the Yahapalana National Government. We now hope that the Attorney General’s (AG) Department will do the same, said a statement released from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Joint Trade Unions of Postal Service Workers issued a statement that all Postal service employees will go on strike should the government fail to provide a satisfactory resolution to the problems within the Postal service.

Sri Lanka’s economic growth in 2018 is forecast at between 5-5.5 percent, bouncing back from an anticipated four-year low of less than 4 percent last year, central bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said on Wednesday.

President Maithripala Sirisena issuing a special statement yesterday on the Treasury Bond Commission report reiterated his commitment to fully recover the loss to the government from the Treasury bond issue and bring the offenders to book.

The former Acting Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Divulapitiya Police Station has been arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in connection with the death of a suspect in custody on October 04, 2017.

R. Sampanthan, leader of the Opposition in Sri Lanka’s Parliament, is also the country’s seniormost politician, having been in politics for more than six decades. In the January 2015 presidential poll, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) he leads backed the President Maithripala Sirisena–Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe combine that ousted former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

A consortium led by state-run China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd will invest $1 billion to build three 60-storey office towers on reclaimed land of the Port City development in Sri Lanka’s capital, a government minister said on Tuesday.

The ban imposed on polythene and household electric appliances that contain Hydrochloro-flurocarbon or HCFC by the Central Environment Authority (CEA) in the September 2017 Gazette Notification came into effect yesterday (1st Jan.).

President Maithripala Sirisena will make a special statement to the media on Wednesday in connection with the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) report into the Bond Issuance of the Central Bank, the President’s Media Division said yesterday.